Tuesday, December 17, 2002

The Music Industry!

I think one can draw a parallel to the way that the Music Industry "invests" and the way that Wall Street invested during the "bubble". After the burst on Wall Street it was loudly announced that what's wrong with a lot of investors is they didn't diversify. I think the Music Industry has fallen into this same trap. The whole industry is built around making or breaking one or two megastars. Take Mariah Carey's famous flameout with her record label. They let her go for something like $40 million dollars. It put severe strains on the company. If the Music Industry organized itself so it could make money on dozens or hundreds of artists it would be diversified and profitable over the long run. Also, it is clear that there are just too many middlemen in the Music Industry all wanting to make a fortune. It ain't going to happen. Finally, there appears to be a form of payola still going on whereby a third party "placement manager" is paid by the record labels to lobby radio to play just a couple of artists. The Music Industry deserves all the pain they suffer. In my mind, I would like to see the entire Music Industry implode and we all start over again. The Music Industry is so arrogant to think that if it goes out of business that no one will ever make music again. I've begun to make my own music. Who cares about the success or failure of the Music Industry?